Now, if only the rest of the Calgary Flames could start finding the back of the net again.

The Flames sputtered into their week-long bye/all-star break with Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, a cellar-dwelling squad that had yet to win in 2020.

With that sort of stinker right before their vacations, the first couple of margaritas might taste awfully sour.

“If we went back two months ago and said at this break, we would be in this position? We’d probably take it,” reminded Flames captain Mark Giordano, understandably looking at the bright side with his team part of a logjam at the top of the Pacific Division.

Jankowski, at least, should be able to enjoy his escape after scoring his first of the season — the end, mercifully, of a 38-game drought. No other NHL forward had logged more ice-time without a single snipe.

That was one of the few positives for the Flames as they wrapped this Eastern Canada swing with a 1-2 record . . . and a grand total of three goals to show for their travels.

That includes Jankowski’s slump-busting backhander and then Noah Hanifin’s top-shelf rip with two minutes remaining against the Senators, both markers coming after Saturday’s result was already certain.

“(The offence) has absolutely dried up — we only had three goals in three games and two of them come in the last five minutes of a 4-0 game,” fumed Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk.

And why?

“I don’t really have an answer for you,” Tkachuk replied. “Otherwise, we all would have changed it.”

You don’t fret too much about a team that has won six of its past eight, but Calgary’s lamp-lighting woes have been a recurring theme this season.

The Flames seemed to score at will in 2018-19.

Now, with the same core cast, they are averaging just 2.60 goals per game. Heading into Saturday’s evening action, that was worst among likely playoff contenders.

“Last year, it came easy, right? There was nobody really going through downs and nobody really slumping and everybody feeling really good about themselves,” Giordano said after the loss at Canadian Tire Centre. “For whatever reason, it’s felt like a real struggle to put the puck in the net this year. Hopefully, over this break, we can go over it when we get back. I’m sure the coaches will have a lot of time to look at different little tendencies we’ve had.

“And we have to be better as players at executing. I mean, we’re getting looks. We had a lot of chances around the net tonight, it felt like. And we just weren’t finding a way to put them in.”

The other guys did, ending their nine-game winless skid.

The Flames were out-shooting the Senators by a 15-3 count after Saturday’s opening stanza . . . and trailing.

The hosts lucked out on the opening strike, with Flames defenceman Travis Hamonic reaching to break up Brady Tkachuk’s pass to Anthony Duclair and instead deflecting the puck past his own netminder.

Whoops.

“Not only did we out-shoot them, we had some real quality looks but couldn’t put one in,” Giordano said of the first period in Ottawa. “We came in here in a good spot still. We were down, but we felt like we had a lot of chances, a lot of opportunities, we had our legs going. And then the second period, when we got down two and then three, then you really start chasing the game.

“Some games, you deserve to be down and you’re up and you win ’em. And on a night like tonight, I thought especially after the first, we deserved better.”

The Senators added to their lead with a pair of second-period cash-ins — Chris Tierney shovelling in a backhand during a goal-mouth scramble and Connor Brown polishing off the leftovers after a re-direct squirted through David Rittich’s five-hole.

When Colin White buried a rebound in the third, it was clear there would be no comeback. (The Senators scored one more into an empty net.)

The Flames finished with a 42-21 edge on the shot-tracker, for whatever that’s worth.

According to Natural Stat-Trick, they controlled 72.9% of possession at five-on-five.

“The thing that we have to take away from this game is when the puck isn’t going in for us, and you’ve had some offensive-zone time and you’ve had some looks, you still have to pay attention to what you’re doing away from the puck,” said Flames interim coach Geoff Ward. “I thought a few of their goals were breakdowns by us just not paying attention to the defensive details.

“When you’re playing in a game like that one, where there’s not a lot of play in your own zone and you’re playing a lot in the other end and it’s not going in, you have to stay with it. You have to pay attention to what you’re doing in all three zones. And tonight, we had a few breakdowns and they took advantage of it.”

The Flames will return from their bye/all-star break for a Jan. 28 hook-up with the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues at the Saddledome.

In the meantime, Ward can wrack his brain for ideas to spark the offence.

General manager Brad Treliving can gauge the trade market for a marksman.

Maybe the Flames’ stars will tally a bit more often after returning with a tan.

Jankowski, still with just two points on the campaign, is on a lengthy list of guys capable of producing more.

Certainly, there must have been a feeling of relief when he snapped a backhander inside the post in Saturday’s third period, ending Marcus Hogberg’s shutout bid.

“I wish it would have come in a win. That’s obviously the most important thing,” Jankowski said. “It feels good just to get the monkey off the back and to stop hearing about it, I guess. Other than that, you just have to keep moving forward. It’s not really about the stats and the points, it’s about how you’re playing. And the last few games, I’ve felt good about my game. I think I got rewarded there tonight.”

FACING OFF

Matthew and Brady Tkachuk were lined up side-by-side on the wing for the opening faceoff.

Veteran referee Wes McCauley wanted them in the spotlight.

So McCauley tossed Calgary’s Elias Lindholm and Ottawa’s Artem Anisimov from the dot, essentially demanding that the Tkachuks — with about 40 loved ones watching from a pair of suites at Canadian Tire Centre — take the draw.

Brady won that showdown, then notched his first career victory against his older brother. He played a big role for the Senators with a goal and a helper.

“Wes was great — he said, ‘If I’m reffing, you guys have to do the opening draw. Your mom will love it.’ ” said Matthew, who had a game-high six shots but finished with a minus-3 rating. “(Brady) snapped that back on me pretty good and seemed to destroy the rest of our team tonight too.”

Post-game, the Flames reassigned defenceman Alexander Yelesin to the AHL’s Stockton Heat. The 23-year-old was a healthy scratch for all three stops on the road-trip and has still yet to log his NHL debut . . . A cool moment prior to Saturday’s showdown between the Senators and Flames — just hours after their citizenship ceremony, 74 new Canadians filed onto the benches for the national anthem. As the public addresser put it, “You are now officially as Canadian as hockey itself” . . . The break will be a wee bit shorter for Giordano, Tkachuk and Rittich. They will represent the Flames at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game next weekend in St. Louis.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.